Registration application cannot be rejected without notice; later application treated as continuation and registration relates back.

A registration application under the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003 cannot be rejected merely for alleged non-appearance on an unnotified date, especially where the dealer had previously appeared and produced records and no change in circumstances was shown. In those circumstances, a later application may be treated as a continuation of the first application. Registration therefore relates back to the date of the initial application, and the later grant cannot cut down that entitlement. The rejection of the first application was set aside, and registration was directed to operate from the date of the first application, with consequential endorsement and liberty to proceed in accordance with law if arrear returns were not filed.

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Issues: Whether the rejection of the first application for registration under the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003 was lawful, and whether the second application could be treated as a continuation of the first application so that registration would operate from the date of the first application.

Analysis: The application for registration was rejected without any notice of the hearing date and without any reason other than the dealer's alleged absence. The records showed that the petitioner had earlier appeared, produced books of account, and that there was no change of circumstances between the first and second applications. In these circumstances, the authority ought not to have rejected the first application merely for non-appearance on an unnotified date, and the second application should have been treated as a continuation of the first. Since the petitioner had become entitled to registration from the date of the first application, the later grant of registration could not curtail that entitlement.

Conclusion: The rejection of the first application was set aside, and the registration was directed to take effect from the date of the first application, with consequential directions for endorsement and limited liberty to proceed in accordance with law if arrear returns were not filed.

Ratio Decidendi: A registration application cannot validly be rejected without notice and reason, and where no material change has intervened, a subsequent application may be treated as a continuation of the earlier application so that registration relates back to the date when the dealer first became entitled to it.

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